Interactive software applications are installed and used by customer personnel at various customer locations. For example, the interactive software applications may be directed to medical applications. The software applications may assist medical personnel located at hospitals and other medical facilities to diagnose and treat patients. More specifically, the software applications may support medical imaging techniques and devices. The software applications also may facilitate maintaining and updating medical files associated with individual patients. The software applications may be directed toward other types of applications as well, both medical and non-medical.
Periodically, the software applications in use are revised and updated. However, the installation of the software upgrades may be cumbersome and time intensive. For instance, an experienced software technician is typically required to install the software upgrades on computers located at each customer facility. Once at the customer facility, the technician has to initially back-up all the user specific data and customized application settings. After saving the customized application settings, the technician installs the new version of the software application. Subsequently, the technician re-installs the saved customized settings.
Additionally, after the new version of the application is installed, so-called client or customer protocols, such as hardware and configuration specific protocols, may have to be converted to become compatible with the new version of software. During the entire software upgrade process, the customer's computer or machine is unavailable for use by customer personnel.